Evaluative Clinical Sciences

Education:

• B.Sc., 2004, physiology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
• MD, 2008, medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada
• FRCPC, 2012, internal medicine, University of Toronto, Canada
• FRCPC, 2013, infectious diseases, U of T
• M.Sc., 2013, quality improvement and patient safety, U of T

Appointments and Affiliations:

• Associate scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Integrated Community Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
• Associate professor, department of medicine, U of T
• Adjunct faculty, Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, U of T
• Staff physician, Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Research Foci:

• Patient safety
• Quality improvement
• Antimicrobial stewardship
• Infection prevention

Research Summary:

Dr. Leis is Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Sunnybrook and leads a Quality Improvement research program focused on the iterative development of new sustainable models of care that can reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infection. Examples have included standardized use of medical devices such as urinary catheters, improvements to hand hygiene using more accurate measurement systems, modified reporting of microbiologic results to promote judicious antibiotic use, optimized administration of antibiotics including for patients with reported beta-lactam allergy, and prevention of respiratory outbreaks in different healthcare settings.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

1. Leis JA, Palmay L, Ho G, Raybardhan S et al. Point-of-care Beta-lactam Allergy Skin Testing by Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs: A Pragmatic Multicenter Prospective evaluation. Clin Infect Dis 2017; 2017 Jun 1. doi: 10.1093/cid/cix512
2. Lamb MJ, Baillie L, Pajak D, et al. Elimination of Screening Urine Cultures Prior to Elective Joint Arthroplasty. Clin Infect Dis. 2017 Mar 15;64(6):806-809.
3. MacFadden DR, LaDelfa A, Leen J, Gold WL, Daneman N, Weber E, Al-Busaidi I, Petrescu D, Saltzman I, Devlin M, Andany N, Leis JA. Impact of reported beta-lactam allergy on inpatient outcomes: a multicenter prospective cohort study. Clin Infect Dis. 2016 Oct 1;63(7):904–10.
4. Kovacs-Litman A, Muller MP, Powis JE et al. Association Between Hospital Outbreaks and Hand Hygiene: Insights from Electronic Monitoring. Clin Infect Dis, 2021; 73: e3656-60.
5. Delaney L et al. Impact of mandatory online learning module for healthcare workers intending to decline influenza immunization: Implications for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Antimicrob Steward Hosp Epidemiol, 2021. 1: e15.

Related News and Stories:

• How a Toronto hospital handled Canada’s first COVID-19 case: ‘We didn’t know this was a moment in history’ (Toronto Star, 2020)
• Electronic monitors improve handwashing, cut disease 
• Culture change: policy slashes rates of baseless urine screening before hip or knee replacement surgery (SRI Magazine, 2017)
• Secret monitors find hospital hand washing rate lower than expected, prompting move to e-surveillance (National Post, July 12, 2016)
• Simple shifts in antibiotic prescribing patterns can reduce resistant infections (March 6, 2014)
• Simple lab-based change may help reduce unnecessary antibiotic therapy, improve care (Feb. 27, 2014)